Sunday, April 11, 2010

How does my garden grow? April update

Back in March I posted about Spring planting and what I had planned for my garden. Some of the seeds I planted have come up, while others have not. In between there have been a lot of volunteers coming up and I have planted some starts and new seeds. In the first picture you can see my raised bed looking lush and green and in need of being thinned out a bit.

My butternut squash didn't come up at all from seed. I think they were too old, but the tenacious Seminole pumpkins have come up on their own again. I think I may transplant some to the back yard later. Tomatoes have also come up on their own all over the place, 2 plants surprisingly in a big pot on top of the chicken pen. Of the first seeds I planted this Spring Amaranth and Red Clover have been the best germinators. I am just about ready to harvest Amaranth leaves which should leave more room for the other plants that are coming up in the raised bed like the Egg Plant and Pepper plants starts. I found a recipe for preparing Amaranth leaves last week. Previously I had grown the Amaranth for seed, which is fun, but the winnowing is a bit time consuming. Below you can see the Amaranth leaves up close. I purchased the Amaranth seed from Echo. The plants really produce a ton of seed if you let them.

Down below my mulberry tree I also started some organic snap beans in a big pot. I thought they could grow up the mulberry tree as well as the Fo Ti vine which is currently climbing it. My friend picked up these seeds and also watermelon and lettuce seed which I'm trying out. We have a great new source for organic seeds in Daytona Beach. Check out Access to Organics on Mason Ave if you haven't been there yet.

Here is my easy access front porch kitchen garden. You can see the lush new Stevia leaves in the lower pot. The plant did well overwinter, and I will be picking off leaves to dry soon for teas. I also have rosemary, thyme, pinks and violets on the front porch. Kid toys and crystals tend to make their way into these pots.

Sadly I lost all my Vana Tulsi (Ocimum gratissimum) plants in the freeze, so this year I'm starting over with a different variety of Holy Basil, Green Holy basil, Ocimum sanctum. You can see them coming up here in my basil pot if you look closely.

How is your Spring Gardening going? Is everything planted yet? Are things coming up as planned? Leave a comment. I would love to know.